Friday, 11th March 2011 at 13:02

Which countries were the biggest visitors to Disneyland Paris in 2010? Last week’s AGM presentation was published online this morning and includes the exact percentages for the past year, showing an interesting shift in where those 15 million visitors are travelling from. Here’s the big news: For perhaps the first time in the resort’s history, more than 50% of visitors came from France itself — a huge 51%, to be precise. This seems to show a big boost from the resort’s home country, but may hide continued falls in attendance from surrounding countries. Back in 2002, for example, the percentage of visitors from France was just 40%, whilst an impressive 21% of visitors had travelled across the channel from the United Kingdom. In 2010, that figure has dropped dramatically to just 12%, perhaps the lowest percentage of British visitors ever, after falling from 20% in 2006, 18% in 2007, 16% in 2008 and 14% in 2009 — a worrying trend of falling visitor numbers every year for the past five years now.

Visitors from the Benelux meanwhile have remained relatively steady in percentage terms over the past decade, with Belgium and Luxembourg making up 7% of visitors in both 2010 and 2009, having been recorded at 6% for 2002 and 2006. The Netherlands appears to have experienced a slight drop in prominence, at 7% of visitors for 2010 but previously having made up 8% in 2006 and 9% in 2002. One big success for Disneyland Paris in recent years has been in attracting more guests from Spain, but even here the draw appears to be waning. Back in 2002, Spain was even combined with Italy, for a total 9% of visitors, but by 2005 had attained this number all by itself. Spanish visitors appeared to reach their peak in 2008, making up 11% of guests, but this dropped to 8% in 2009 and 2010. Finally, visitors from the rest of the world have remained steady at 9%, having stuck at that percentage for the past decade (though Euro Disney SCA claims an increasing demand from visitors of further afield for 2010).

But wait — we’re forgetting somewhere. Making just 3% of visitors in 2010, Germany is at risk of barely even registering on the figures. This German market has dropped consistently for the past few years — from 4% in 2006, 5% in 2005 and 7% back in 2002 — despite being a wealthy country of 80 million where Disney is as popular as anywhere, with several big theme parks of its own. Those successful parks might be part of the problem, as might the lack of a direct Eurostar-style link, but surely this should be a bigger market for the resort. Back in 1992, it seemed to be expected that Germany would be right behind the UK as one of the biggest visitors. So, what’s keeping Deutschland away from Disneyland?

I really didn’t expect so few germans visiting DlP!! I am german and I’ve been at DlP several times and i wanna go there as often as possible in the future! I would never compare any german theme park to DlP cause they are not Disney!!!They lack in the magic, the details, the characters, the atmosphere.. Everything that represents Disney! May be there should be more advertising- i noticed that there’s no television advertising at all!!! And there used to be…I try my best to convince germans to visit DlP ;-)

The biggest problem over here is, that Disneyland isn’t advertised at all. Most people still think that it is just a park for kids and I’m sure most people will not even know that there is a second park now as well.
I don’t think that the tickets are too expensive. Compared to other Disney parks around the globe,I think that Disney could even raise the price, but has to improve the quality as well.

Another problem is that the German market doesn’t receive any discounts and special offers like the UK, Benelux or France do.

Germany has over 80 mio inhabitants and is one of the richest countries in the world and as far as I know, Germans like to travel. I’m sure more Germans would visit DLRP if there would be some advertising of the resort, but there isn’t. I really don’t get it why Disney neglects such a huge market. Maybe Disney is afraid that the quality doesn’t live up to the Germans, because Disney’s hotels are far behind the German standard, and it is expensive to stay in a Disney hotel as well.

I’m German, too and I visited DLP for the 3rd time this year (came back 2 days ago).

The ticket and the package prices are still too high for the Germans, I guess! For example: we paid more than 700€ for 2 adults/1 child for 3 nights/4 days in Sequoia Lodge – off-season!!! Then you have to consider the expenses for driving (from us 7 hours!) or the train (with changing trains) or maybe a flight.

But I have to say: what Sven said isn’t true. An adult-one-day-ticket for Legoland for example also costs 37€ – without any magical feeling. ;-)

I suggest more special offers (maybe with inclusive train ride) for Germany and more advertising.

It is slightly misleading as the promotions in France are way to good to not visit With 1 euro tickets free Annuel Pass ect,ect. When most guests from other areas of Europe only get savings of a third of the ticket price. Also thank these promotions for cramped conditions in the parks not respecting resort assets such as gardens etc while not really bringing extra revinue into the Parks that could help to finance future development.

I agree with you that going to DLRP is very expensive, especially when you can go to Spain, for example, with the same amount of money for a longer time.

BUT, Disneyland Paris is definately worth more than 37€. At least for me DLP is still a wonderful themepark and not just an amusement park, despite its issues like bad maintenance. In my opinion no other European themepark can be compared to Disneyland.

So if Germans or other people think that the park entry, not a whole package including hotel, is too expensive at DLRP, then they shouldn’t come, because I think the parks are still worth the 68€ (park hopper ticket).

@ Markus Repp:
I’m sorry, but it annoys me a bit that Germans or Austrians expect CMs to talk in German to them. Why should Disney bring CMs to the resort who can speak German when only 3% of the guests are actually from Germany. I’m sure most Germans are able to speak English, at least a bit.
I’ve never had problems to get informations in German, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

But I agree with you that the quality of the hotels is really bad, especially for the money you pay. And sometimes CMs are not very friendly.

For Germans it is a quite expensive Holiday to stay at DLRP. There are nearly no Promotions or special Rates.
Plus, nobody knows what DLRP has to offer! I had been 4 times there. Telling it to friends and family, nobody can imagine how large DLRP is today and that you can stay days there without one boring minute!
This is very bad marketing, because Disney itself is a very popular brand in Germany.
At least i think another problem is the french language.

Mr Repp, deutschsprachige Mitarbeiter? Nicht zur Zielgruppe? Honestly? There is more than twice the number of Dutch-speakers compared to German-speakers at any given moment, yet there is more German to be found at Disneyland Paris than there is Dutch. Just something to ponder for a while.

I work in tourism, and notice that while Germans love to travel, they also feel as though the world should cater to their needs and surrender to their sensibilities. That is a horrific generalization, of course, but it has been reaffirmed three times in the above posts alone.

Disney should perhaps make more of an effort to reel in the Germans through advertising and special offers. But they certainly don’t need to rush out and employ more deutschsprachige Mitarbeiters or render German the second language after English.

And perhaps we should make an effort to post in English on an English-language forum.

Interesting, as I have worked there during the opening I remember our “training” and part of it went as follows:
One of the reasons that Disney had chosen Marne la Vallee was that they expected the majority of the guests to originate from Germany. But since Germans ( or anyone really) would prefer to go spend their time of in a foreign country rather then treir own, building the park in Germany wouldn’t be an option.

Let me bring an example: Last time I visited DLP I booked it via telephone referring to the disneylandparis.UK-website where the exact same offer (1 room, 4 adults, 3 nights, NewportBC) was more than 200€ cheaper than at disneylandparis.de! (even though credit card fees for paying in British Pounds applied)

Well like any other german I know, we book since several years our travels via uk just in case that the benefit there is much higher – last year we travel with a 40% off to disneyland. In the same time, the highest offer in germany was 20%.

I love Disneyland, every other year I get an Annual-Pass (even that was at the start a hell for sovereigns) but even Disney must realice, that we live in the time of internet. Disney try to create price-differneces like in the times of paper-catalogs and that did’nt work anymore – in addition, that the park start in the 90s as a european Park and becomes in the last years more and more a “french” funpark. Things like this get consequences.

Right now we have a big Turism exhibition in Stuttgart i think, and on the news they said, the Germans are making more Vacations ever this year. SO right now Disney shoot themself out of the line by not making any marketing here in Germany.

This year will be my 30th visit to the park since the opening, and am getting year after year more dissapointed by the bad quality they offer since the Studios opend.

Something i don´t get is how it is possible that the UK and france can get special offerings (tickets for 1€ or -40%) when the Park needs every money. Spending money on big adverts all over europe, maybe 2 different, 1 for kids and 1 for the adulds and teens. its important to show that disney is not just a kids park and that they have some good thrills.
Disney messed up in germany with no maketing of TOT so i don´t think it will get better anytime soon.

Hi Tom, sorry for the german post. I didn´t know that I must write in English.
The Question was: What’s keeping Deutschland away from Disneyland?
I only try to find an answer. I´ve been there for many, many times and i love Disneyland.
I only think the language could be A reason. “…they also feel as though the world should cater to their needs“ No, they don´t. I think, this should be an task by disneyland. Because, that is no holiday place like an natural country or town. There is no national tradition to experience. They want to sell their product and reach an audience of 80 million, right?
Sure, if i go to Paris, to Rom, to Amsterdam, i have no desire for service in german. But, here is the Question, why that product (Disneyland is an manufactured product) get no exuberant interest by the germans. a few years ago, everywhere i asked something, i found an cast member with german flag on his shirt. Today that is rare. Maybe that’s a reason for missing the German guests.
Maybe, the germans think, Disneyland is no more aligned for german guests and have no more interest in them. (???) Brought to the point: German might think that they do not belong to the target group. (i don´t mean regulars)
Please note: I only think, this could be an reason. That is no reproach.
Concider, there is no disneyland Advertising in Germany. That underlines my conjecture.

@ Dagobert:
I think it the other way. First, there was many german speaking cast members and more german guests. Than the cast members were less, the german guests stayed away. The Germans must be convinced to have a reason to go to disneyland. Look at http://www.europapark.de
But, i think, the language is a problem for a small part of german guests. That´s right.
I think the advertising is the actual reason. And, a little bit the price. But only for guests who had never been there.
Actually it’s not really expensive. But that is one point to show with advertising.
Germans could also think they are not desired, if they compare the german website and the others. Children under 7 for free in Germany. Children under 12 for free in other countrys. Why that…? That isn´t correct!!
finaly, sorry for my bad english…

Maybe there will be more German CMs in the park, because Disney launched a recruitment campgne all over Europe, including Germany.

I totally agree with you that our market is left behind. We also booked over UK, because it was a lot cheaper. And you are also right that Disneyland isn’t too expensive and Disney should advertise that, but unfortunately they don’t. Today no one uses the paper catalog to book a trip to Disneyland. I’m sure most people use the internet and there it is really easy to compare all countries.

For me Germany, Austria and Switzerland are considered as a single market and it is a huge market which likes Disney a lot. Otherwise I can’t explain why Disney comics, movies or TV series are so successful over here. Nearly everyone knows Walt Disney World, but many don’t know much about DLRP. Most people over here still call it Euro Disney, which implies that when DLP opened it was advertised well over here, too. I met a family who thought that DLP closed many years ago. Now it’s really up to Disney to bring Germans back to the resort.

@ Thorsten
You mentioned the lack of advertising TOT in the German market. The only advertising I’ve seen was an article about TOT in my Ford magazine. Back then Ford was still a sponsor of DLRP.

Silvie: I have to admit, I divide entrys at Merlin-parks by 2, because they spread their 2-for-1-coupons all around. I’m pretty sure, without the coupons the regular price wouldn’t be that high.

Apart from that: It doesn’t matter if it’s 35 oder 37.
For somebody who has never been to DLRP the difference to the german parks is huge, so you have to be a big Disney-fan to still go there. Especially if you don’t know what to expect there -> lack of advertising.

The most depressing thing about the lack of advertising is, that Disney would be capable of so much more than simple billboard-advertisment. Take for an example the brilliant Vienna-Tourism campaign(s): They provide multi-sensory on-site experiences in addition to their normal ads and billboards. See for example an installation at Saint-Lazare station in Paris, and imagine, what Disney could do with their technology on frequented places in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna or Zurich.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh5_lwwp6w0

>>I think they haven´t learned much from the past years. German visitors were once a big number over there at DLP. And I read somewhere that they are also now a big number for the tourist sector at paris – the city not the park (But they don´t come to disneyland cause they don´t know much about it)

During the financial crises we´ve seen that they had the focus on the wrong target group. They advertised sooo much in spain and UK, where people had bigger problems (loooose a house/job/family) then a trip to the magic.
The german economy was on a better way and also the holiday planning of germans. It wasn´t the big gap like we saw it in other countries.

Germans are BIG theme park fans. They love to visit several theme parks in one year. Yes we haven´t a problem to visit phantasialand, europa park and movie park in one year (the space park was simply dull). But over there we haven´t one big advertising campain. SOMETIMES you see something little and not very creative. But nothing that make you wanna see Disneyland. The germans even don´t know about a second park. They don´t know about a resort. They think that DLP is a tiny childish little park out there near paris. Maybe like Park Asterix.

DLP hasn´t invite germans for years now. So why should they come to this place? To realize that it´s hard to find a german speaking person at the hotel desk? To see all the spanish signs that they can´t get cause we are not in california here in europe? (That´s the point: where´s the international flair that the resort had 10 years ago, europe isn´t Spain, UK, France)
To see that the Disney hotels haven´t the same standard as the luxery Europa Park Hotels?

So if you want that germans take dlp on their theme park list just say “hello, we are out here and we have a lot to do for you” (at germany) and “Willkommen” (at the resort). That´s all they want.

Should I be sad/upset cause there (spanish) marketing guy only see 3 lands in whole europe as market place? Should I wondering about the decrease of visitors from countries that have also at the moment BIG economic problems? Should I feel commiserate for DLP? Sorry, no. It´s their own managing fault. Solution: “Hello! Willkommen.”>>

For the CMs: YES they have to speak german if DLRP want to be an international resort. What should they speak for the diffrent target group? French? It´s normal for international resorts to have people there that speak a lot of languages. That´s a key of feeling welcome.

So, to answer the question from the article, what keeps “Deutschland” away:
– substantial lack of advertising in the D-A-CH-Countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
– partly as a result: insufficient knowledge of consumers about the Disneyland experience
– to few special offers and price discounts for DACH-consumers
– neglecting German speaking consumers’ desire to be serviced by German speaking Cast Members
– lack of marketing activities with other transport companies than Air France and Eurostar

Do you know who is responsible for the advertising of DLRP in the DACH region? According to that link http://www.gce-agency.com/news_gce_disney.html WD Parks & Resorts teamed up with that agency to promote DLRP and WDW over here. So that means to me that ED SCA doesn’t advertise DLRP in the DACH region. Since Parks & Resort is a division of TWDC, it seems to me that TWDC Germany/Austria/Switzerland should do that.

That was such a bad commercial and it was only shown one or two weeks.

Since Disney and ProSieben have such a strong relationship, they should produce the Filmparade again, but more like RTL did during the 90s with Thomas Gottschalk.

The 20th birthday would be a perfect opportunity to launch a big DLRP advertising campaign. But in the DACH market it needs more than just a “We are going to Disneyland” video, like Disney is doing in the UK. In my opinion that wouldn’t work here. Since most people over here don’t what DLRP has to offer, it would be better to use attractions and the parks to promote DLRP.

If you read trip Advisor Paris forums, you will see that people from all over the world come to Paris – they are not put off because they cannot speak French. So why would the language put people off going to DLP?
Although English is my first language, and my school days were a very long time ago, I always try to speak French when I am there, to try and improve. I think it is also a mark of respect for the country I am in.
I always use Google translate to write down useful phrases, or buy a phrase book when I go to any non English speaking country, so I can at least ask for things that I may need.
I must admit,although the English are not very good at learning other languages, I thought Germans learned English at school, as many other countries seem to.
I was surprised to see that UK visitors are higher in number than Spain. Maybe I have been there at the wrong times recently, but although there were large numbers of Spanish visitors in both parks, we hardly came across any from the UK, both last August and this January. The majority certainly seemed to be English and French.
We do get the 40% offer sometimes – also 30% and 20%, and kids under 7 or 12 stay and play free, and sometimes free transport.This does not apply to all hotels and dates though. The French also often get Free Dining offers, as does the Irish site, but I only remember getting that offer when I went in December 09.
One thing I wonder though, regarding the figures – what about all the overseas visitors who buy Francilien park tickets from the French websites? Are they counted as French? I would assume so, as they give a French accommodation address to buy the tickets of course, and print them off as e-tickets.

Actually there are CMs who speak German. We always had someone when we called room service in Newport Bay Club and I hope that we will have one again when we go this year.
If not, well in my experience the CMs always do their best to understand the visitors ;)
So far we have always booked through the German Disneyland webside, since we weren’t aware that the UK and Netherlands had better offers. Since the Empire State Club isn’t included in these offers, it doesn’t matter that we will book our next stay via the German hotline.
If we would book a regular room, we would book via UK or Netherlands to provit from the better offer and thus we would appear in the statistic of these lands (as many already do)

“CMs don’t speak German”. It is almost impossible to find a Spanish/Italian speaking CM too, and still Spaniards and Italians go to DLP. In fact, Spaniards and Italians know less English than Germans, and they still go. So that can’t be the reason.

“It’s expensive”. Spaniards and Italians come from countries where everything is cheaper, they earn way less (the minimum wage in Spain is half of that in France) and their hotels are better than the French ones. They still have a bigger attendance than Germans. If it’s cheaper for Germans to go to Spain, imagine how much cheaper it is for Spaniards to go to the coast in Spain and visit some other theme park; and no language barrier!

“It is not advertised”. I don’t know about Italy, but in Spain there’s barely any advertisement for DLP. Some travel agencies have a poster and I’ve seen a commercial once in a while, but the biggest advertisement is word of mouth. That’s how we’ve chosen hotels and that’s how many of my friends have planned their stays.

There must be something more to Germany’s lack of interest in DLP. Maybe they aren’t such Disney fans, maybe they’re cheap, maybe they prefer the Mediterranean sun. Who knows.

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